Return to *North Korean Studies*

What is New about Defectors? (July ~ October 2002)

JAPAN, NORTH FAIL TO DELIVER RESULTS, WILL MAINTAIN CONTACT

Joongang Ilbo reported that DPRK as usual, justified its deployment of long-range missiles and nuclear development as a self-protection against ROK and US arms and refused to hear of Japan's urgings to dismantle itself. Instead DPRK officials accused Japan of holding on to its five Japanese-Korean "citizens." Japan too remained adamant when DPRK called for financial compensation for the pain and suffering caused by Japanese colonization of undivided Korea from 1910-1945. "Not until the North fully resolved the issue with nukes and abductees," they retorted back. Japan also didn't give any clear answer when DPRK suggested the next talks next place around November. Japanese ambassador and chief negotiator Katsunari Suzuki said the two countries will continue to practice patience toward the end to better bilateral ties despite the disappointing result. (Kim Young-sae/Kim Hee-sung, "JAPAN, NOTH FAIL TO DELIVER RESULTS, WILL MAINTAIN CONTACT," Seoul, 10/31/02)

JAPAN WILL CONTINUE BATTLE FOR ABDUCTEES' CHILDREN

The Associated Press reported that a day after talks with the DPRK ended in acrimony, a Japanese official said he had asked the DPRK's delegates to clarify details about eight missing Japanese abducted decades ago by spies from the DPRK. Akitaka Saiki, a member of Japan's delegation, told families of Japanese abduction victims that he had given the DPRK a list of more than 100 questions, to be answered within a week, according to lawmaker Katsuei Hirasawa, who attended the meeting Thursday. Japan's delegation leader Katsunari Suzuki, who also briefed the families, promised to press the DPRK to set a date for handing over the seven children, Hirasawa said at a news conference. Two days of wrangling over the abductees' fate and the DPRK's nuclear weapons program ended in disagreement Wednesday at high-level in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The two sides also remained divided over a possible visit by the abductees' children, with the DPRK balking at setting a date. Both sides indicated an intention to meet again, although they didn't agree on dates. (Kenji Hall, "JAPAN ASKED NORTH KOREA TO CLARIFY STATUS OF MISSING ABDUCTEES, WILL CONTINUE BATTLE FOR ABDUCTEES' CHILDREN," Tokyo, 10/31/02)

Kin of Abductees Seek Gov't Aid for Request to U.N.

Japan Economic Newswire, October 28, 2002

Families of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea sought the Japanese government help Monday in resubmitting a request to a United Nations human rights body to look into the cases of those still missing. Shigeru Yokota and Teruaki Masumoto visited Kyoko Nakayama, a special adviser to the Cabinet Secretariat for the abduction cases, at the Cabinet Office to seek help. Yokota's daughter and Masumoto's sister were abducted in the late 1970s by North Korea, which has listed them as dead. An association of families of the abducted, which Yokota heads, plans to submit a proposal to the U.N. Human Rights Commission's Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, the families said. The group is scheduled to convene in Geneva in November.

Masumoto, who serves as deputy secretary general of the association, traveled to Geneva in April last year to submit a similar request to the working group, asking it to help find missing Japanese nationals suspected of being abducted by North Korea. But the working group told the association in February it could not continue looking into the cases as it was unable to gain sufficient information from North Korea, according to Kazuhiro Araki, secretary general of a national support group for Japanese abducted by North Korea. The request to be submitted next month will exclude the five abduction victims currently back in Japan for the first time since being forcibly taken to North Korea in 1978, said Araki, who accompanied Masumoto to the Swiss city last year.

The association decided to resubmit the search request at this timing because North Korea admitted during Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Sept. 17 visit to Pyongyang that it abducted or lured 13 Japanese to the country in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Of the 13, North Korea said five were living in Pyongyang and eight have died in the country from accidents, illnesses and one suicide. Those listed as dead include Megumi Yokota, abducted from Niigata Prefecture in 1977 at age 13, and Rumiko Masumoto, taken from Kagoshima Prefecture in 1978 when she was 24. "North Korea admitted to the abductions and apologized, so now they have no choice but to cooperate (with the U.N. investigations)," Teruaki Masumoto said. The association of families and the support group will consider whether to travel directly to Geneva to submit the request as they did last year or to make the request through the Japanese government, Araki said. The Japanese Foreign Ministry already indicated its willingness to cooperate with the families' association in resubmitting the proposal to the working group "quite some time before" Sept. 17, Araki said.

Forgotten Man Emerges into the Light

by Shane Green, The Sydney Morning Herald, 26 October 2002, Tokyo

In the bitter cold of a winter's night in 1965, US Army Sergeant Charles Robert Jenkins was leading his three-man squad on patrol near the demilitarised zone that divides North and South Korea. It was just past 2.30am when Jenkins signalled to his troops to wait while he went forward to check something. That was the last they would see of him. Three weeks later, North Korean radio triumphantly announced that Jenkins, a 25-year-old from small town America, had seen the light and defected.

For the best part of 40 years, Jenkins was essentially a forgotten man, leaving behind an army that regarded him as a traitor. However, his family in North Carolina refused to believe he had gone of his own free will. Suddenly, almost 38 years after he left his patrol, Charles Jenkins has emerged from the shadows in a most unexpected and unusual way .When Japan's Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, returned from his historic meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong -il last month, he brought news that the Stalinist state had admitted abducting 13 Japanese nationals. In a strange twist to an already bizarre story, Japan learnt that one of the five surviving abductees, Hitomi Soga, married a US Army defector. His name: Charles Robert Jenkins.

Ms Soga, now 43, had be shopping with her mother on Sado Island off the Sea of Japan coast in 1978 when they were bundled into bags by agents of Pyongyang. Ms Soga, a teenage nursing student, was spirited away to North Korea to train its agents in Japanese language and culture. She never saw her mother again.Gradually accepting her fate she asked to learn English. Her teacher was Charles Jenkins. They fell in love and married 1980, and have two daughters, Mika, 19, and Belinda, 17.

In the past week, since Ms Soga returned to Japan with the four other survivors for a visit, the missing years in the life of Charles Jenkins have started to assume some form. Jenkins, now 62, and his daughters came to the airport at Pyongyang to see off Ms Soga. Japanese officials asked Jenkins if he wanted to go with her, but explained that because of his situation "it's not easy". Jenkins also told the officials about his life with Soga.

"Hitomi is almost 20 years younger than me, but she made us a very good family;" he told the officials, the newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported. "I do appreciate her for that, even though she may have felt lonely for marrying a man this much older." Jenkins stood at the fence waving goodbye, a "very lonely figure". Ms Soga has told her relatives of their life in Pyongyang, getting up early to make lunches for their daughters, who are students at the Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies. Her husband, she said, was kind, "though we sometimes argue".

As debate continues over whether Ms Soga and the other returnees will eventually settle back in Japan, Jenkins's official status as a deserter has emerged as a pressing issue. He would presumably face immediate arrest should he leave North Korea. In a move that underlines how strongly Japan wants the five abductees to come home, Tokyo has made a special request to Washington that Jenkins be granted amnesty.

Back in North Carolina, his family is elated to know he is alive, but refuses to accept that any amnesty is necessary. "I don't believe this about him being a deserter," his sister, Pat Harrell. told The New York Times. His family has always questioned the authenticity of a I farewell letter the army says Jenkins left behind, which began: "Dear Mother, I am sorry for the trouble I will cause you." For the past 37 years the question has been whether Jenkins was a deserter or was abducted. Now; as the story of the Japanese abductees unfolds, we are tantalisingly close to the answer. On the superficial evidence, it would seem that Jenkins did betray his country. He is one of four us servicemen who are alleged to have deserted to the North during the 1960s, subsequently used as Cold War trophies by Pyongyang in propaganda material.

In 1996 the Pentagon classed Jenkins and the other three servicemen as defectors. In addition, there are apparently between 10 and 15 US prisoners of war from the Korean War still in North Korea. What would make Jenkins, an average young man from an average American town, turn to the embrace of a communist
enemy? His life until then holds few clues. In his home town of Rich Square, a farming hamlet of 1000 people, Jenkins was given the nickname Super because his strength was out of proportion to his slender frame. After struggling at school, he seemed to have found his niche with the army; a logical extension of enjoyable days in the National Guard. He served at a US base in Japan before his tour of duty in South Korea. While family and friends have remained loyal, others are not so sure. "I think Jenkins's friends and relatives are in denial and engaged in wishful thinking, " said Bill Sizemore, a journalist who has written on the Jenkins case for the newspaper The Virginian-Pilot.

"One of his friends told me six years ago that Jenkins told him on his last visit home, in late '64 or early '65, that 'when he left this time, he wasn't coming back'." Ms Soga also reportedly told Japanese officials in Pyongyang recently that her husband had gone to North Korea to avoid service in Vietnam. "That sounds plausible to me, " Sizemore said. The only person who really knows what happened on that winter's night near the DMZ is
Charles Jenkins. "We don't know if he was abducted or deserted," said Lynn O'Shea, of the National Alliance of Families for the Return of America's Missing Servicemen. "However, based on the evidence, one must consider the possibility that he was abducted: Until someone can question Charles Jenkins on neutral ground with his family protected, we don't think we will ever have the answer to that question. "We know the North Koreans kidnapped foreign nationals. An obvious question is: why wouldn't they want Americans for their spy school also?"
 

Border Brutality: China Must Not Be Allowed to Aid and Abet North Korea's Murderous Regime

By Suzanne Scholte, Washington Post, October 26, 2002

On May 28, while most of us were winding up our Memorial Day weekend, a brutal murder was occurring in another part of the world. A 40-year-old man who had been a son, brother and husband and the father of a little girl was being beaten to death by four people, one wielding a steel pipe. It took 20 minutes. It was carried out by officials of one country while officials from another country simply watched. The man was killed, according to government record, for the crime of "crossing the border."

His name was Sohn In Kuk, and the border he had crossed was that of his native North Korea. We would have known nothing about him except there were witnesses to his death and some people cared enough about him, and what was happening to North Korean refugees, to smuggle this evidence out of China: a picture of Sohn, his personal letter to all South Koreans and a photo of his "hearse" -- an official Chinese government vehicle that carried away his broken body.

In his hellish homeland of North Korea, Sohn had watched his family die away: mother, brother, wife, father and daughter from hunger or hunger-related causes. He left North Korea for China, as so many have done, in an attempt to survive. Sohn had served in the North Korean army, drafted at the age of 17. Distinguishing himself as a soldier and loyal party member, he was sent to the Korea Military Academy for six years and then became a radar officer/instructor working at secret posts. But he was discharged from the military in 1997 with the rank of major when he mishandled some official documents, and he went to work in a wood furniture factory, until he became so disillusioned with North Korea that he decided to flee the country.

His stint with the military may have caused him to make the "wanted list" that North Korea provides Chinese border authorities, but his beating may simply have been the result of his having "crossed the border" one time too many. According to eyewitness accounts, on the afternoon of May 28, 56 North Korean defectors, mostly women but also some men and children, were handed over by Chinese border authorities to the North Korean State Security Agency (SSA) in the Chinese border prison compound in Tumen, China.

The Chinese border guards and prison officials first processed the women, one by one, checking their names off the "serious crimes list," where their crimes were written as "crossing the border." The prisoners were handcuffed two by two and loaded onto a bus. Then it was time to process the men. Sohn was first in line, and when a North Korean SSA officer saw his face, he yelled in anger, "You again?" These were the last words Sohn heard. The North Korean SSA officers descended upon him and began to beat him, while the Chinese border guards and prison officials simply watched.

Sohn's death is just one example of the beatings, tortures and murders happening on the North Korea-China border as China rounds up people trying to flee their country. It is estimated that at least 200,000 North Koreans have fled their homeland in search of food and a new life in China. We do not have a full understanding of the situation because China refuses to allow the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to visit the border. China not only repatriates North Koreans in violation of international agreements it has signed, it also imprisons, tortures and deports the humanitarian workers who try to help the North Korean refugees. China flatly denies it has any North Korean refugees and says the North Koreans within its borders are simply "economic migrants" because they come in search of food, not political freedom. But the fact is that in North Korea "crossing the border" is a very serious crime, punishable by a three-year prison sentence and, in the case of someone like Sohn, a death sentence.

We expect North Korea's government to commit these kinds of atrocities. After all, Kim Jong Il is directly murdering 42 North Koreans every day in his political prisoner camps and indirectly murdering 391 North Koreans every day by starving them to death. And these are the most conservative estimates. We cannot allow China to continue to aid and abet Kim Jong Il's murderous regime. We must demand that China stop all repatriations of North Korean refugees, and we must demand that China allow the UNHCR access to this region. If the U.S. government is not willing to use economic leverage to make China comply with the international treaties it has signed, then all free people in the world should call for an international boycott of every product made in China and ask the International Olympic Committee to find another city for the 2008 Games. Surely, the world can see that a country whose policy is to allow the murder and killing of neighbors whose only crime was "crossing the border" is no place for any international event, let alone one that celebrates goodwill among nations.

Leading His Flock of Refugees to Asylum

By Valerie Reitman, LA Times, October 27, 2002

A missionary helps North Koreans flee via China and Mongolia. Risking death, the escapees brave the elements and jail.

ERENHOT, China -- It is their last supper together, and the shepherd has gathered his small flock of North Koreans around a table piled with steaming plates of shredded pork, rice and braised tofu. But the seven refugees are too nervous to do more than nibble. Among them: a woman claiming to be an elite worker in North Korea's nuclear missile program; a muscular former soldier whose heavily scarred arms attest to a previous escape attempt; a woman who had been sold as a bride. Urged to "be strong, be cold," she is leaving her toddler behind. Their guide and pastor is Chun Ki Won, an affable South Korean who once sold golf clubs to high-flying Japanese businessmen.

Despite his good nature and Christian heart, Chun doesn't really trust his charges. Still, he is risking his life to help them. "We're at the last moment," Chun says now as they grip one another's hands and pray. The women weep softly. "Please God, keep us safe. Please let them be all right." These "chosen ones" are at one of the final stops on an underground railroad to freedom in South Korea. Each started the journey by slipping across the border to China, where they sought out or stumbled upon a network of safe houses in which Christian missionaries hid them and taught them religion before spiriting them hundreds of miles across northeastern China. In just one hour, they will attempt to crawl under a 7-foot barbed-wire fence into Mongolia. If things go well, the next time Chun sees them will be in Seoul. If not, they could die...

JAPAN WILL DEMAND NORTH KOREA CEDE ARMS PROGRAM, ABDUCTEES

The Wall Street Journal, reported that when Japanese officials meet their DPRK counterparts in Kuala Lumpur Tuesday to start negotiations aimed at forging diplomatic relations, they will have two major demands for the DPRK: first, that the DPRK abandon its nuclear program; second, that five Japanese abducted more than 20 years ago be allowed to live in Japan permanently with their children. As of Tuesday, the abductees will have been back in Japan for two weeks. But rather than returning them, the Japanese government is demanding the five be allowed to stay permanently in Japan and that their children living in the DPRK be allowed to join them. Before the start of the Kuala Lumpur talks, the North Korean government hadn't responded to the demand.

A refusal might hold up bilateral negotiations and the hope of bringing North Korea into international society and making it conform to its rules. More likely, say Japanese analysts, Pyongyang will agree to let the five stay and their children follow -- though without setting a date for the children. "I think they will agree in principle to Japanese demands," says Hajime Izumi, a Korea expert at Japan's Shizuoka University. "But there won't immediately be any tangible results from these talks." [This Wall Street Journal article originally appeared in today's edition of the US Defense Department's Early Bird News Summary.] (Sebastian Moffettm "JAPAN WILL DEMAND NORTH KOREA CEDE ARMS PROGRAM, ABDUCTEES," Tokyo, 10/29/02)

China Daily reported briefly in a sentence that an official from DPRK said Pyongyang will allow the permanent return of five Japanese it kidnapped nearly a quarter of a century ago and permit their families to join them, a Japanese newspaper reported on October 24. (Tokyo, 10/25/02, P11)

JAPAN REPORTEDLY ASKS WASHINGTON TO PARDON FORMER U.S. SOLDIER IN NORTH KOREA

The Associated Press reported that Japan has suggested Washington grant a special pardon to a former US soldier believed to have defected to the DPRK in the 1960s so that he can accompany his Japanese wife on future visits here, a local newspaper reported Wednesday. The woman, Hitomi Soga, was kidnapped and taken to the DPRK in 1978. She is currently visiting Japan for the first time since her abduction, and officials are negotiating with the DPRK for her and four other abduction survivors to be allowed to return permanently. The Mainichi, a major daily, said Deputy Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe suggested the pardon of her husband, Charles Robert Jenkins, at a meeting with Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly earlier this week. Kelly replied he would consider the matter, the report said.

According to the Mainichi, Japan is concerned that Jenkins' status, and the possibility of his arrest prevented him from leaving the DPRK, could make it impossible for Soga to return. Officials in Tokyo refused to comment on the report, which cited anonymous government sources. The U.S. Army has sought Jenkins after determining that he had participated in DPRK propaganda broadcasts in the 1960s in which he said he enjoyed life in the DPRK and urged US soldiers in the ROK to desert. Jenkins, now 62, told a Japanese Foreign Ministry official in Pyongyang earlier this month it wouldn't be easy for him to visit Japan with his wife now "given his situation." Jenkins, of Rich Square, North Carolina, is one of four US soldiers who allegedly deserted their army posts in the ROK in the 1960s. Soga and Jenkins, who married in the DPRK in 1980, currently have two daughters in Pyongyang, aged 19 and 17. ("JAPAN REPORTEDLY ASKS WASHINGTON TO PARDON FORMER U.S. SOLDIER IN NORTH KOREA," Tokyo, 10/22/02)

KIDNAP VICTIMS MAY STAY LONGER IN JAPAN BEFORE RETURNING TO NORTH KOREA

The Associated Press reported that the five Japanese abduction victims may stay longer than was originally planned, officials said Tuesday. The five, the only known survivors of at least 13 Japanese kidnapped by DPRK agents in the 1970s and 80s, arrived last week for what was expected to be a stay of one or two weeks. But officials on Tuesday said the visit may be extended if the abductees express a desire to stay longer. "Nothing has been decided yet in concrete terms," said Harumi Kumagai, an official with the Cabinet office handling the five abductees' stay. Kumagai said officials would discuss the matter with the five and then set a date. The five abductees include two couples - Yasushi Chimura and Fukie Hamamoto, and Kaoru Hasuike and Yukiko Okud, and Hitomi Soga.

The returnees have given only brief comments since arriving in Japan last Tuesday, shedding little light on why they were kidnapped or what they did in the years immediately afterward. But Hasuike has said the DPRK never imposed a time limit on the returnees' homecoming and that the decision to leave their children behind was their own. Even if the abductees want to stay in Japan, it was unclear whether they could. The DPRK has indicated to the Japanese government that it would like the five to return to the DPRK by next Monday. The DPRK then suggested that the abductees' family members in Japan visit the DPRK after that, the report said. (Kozo Mizoguchi, "KIDNAP VICTIMS MAY STAY LONGER IN JAPAN BEFORE RETURNING TO NORTH KOREA," Tokyo, 10/22/02)

OGI INSPECTS NORTH KOREAN SPY SHIP WITH COAST GUARD CHIEF

Kyodo reported that Japanese transport minister Chikage Ogi inspected the North Korean spy ship that was salvaged last month from the East China Sea and is now moored at a private dockyard in Kagoshima Prefecture. Ogi, minister of land, infrastructure and transport, inspected the ship together with Kenichi Fukaya, chief of the Japan Coast Guard. During the inspection, Ogi offered words of encouragement to the coast guard personnel in charge of the investigation. Thus far, more than 700 items have been recovered from the ship, including a number of pins bearing the image of late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung and a large cache of weapons and ammunition, including portable ground-to-air missile launchers and bullets. Japan has concluded the ship was used by the DPRK for espionage activities. ("OGI INSPECTS NORTH KOREAN SPY SHIP WITH COAST GUARD CHIEF," Kagoshima, 10/18/02)

SDP CHIEF DOI APOLOGIZES FOR ABDUCTION INACTION

The Japan Times reported that Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Takako Doi apologized to the families of the people kidnapped to North Korea, admitting that the party, despite its long-standing ties with the Korean Workers' Party, failed to sufficiently pursue the abduction issue. "The party's effort may have not been sufficient to live up to the expectation of the families of the abducted," Doi told a news conference. "I would like to apologize to the families." She said the party would review its policy toward the DPRK in light of the revelations. Since 1963, party delegates have visited Pyongyang more than a dozen times.

Doi herself headed a delegation in October 1990. Doi emphasized that the party brought up the kidnapping issue with its contacts in the Workers' Party. But the North Koreans repeatedly denied any acts of abduction and told her lies all along, she said. The party has been widely criticized for maintaining a thesis that appeared in its July 1997 party bulletin, in which the author described the kidnapping issue as a "fiction devised by the South Korean intelligence." The thesis was still on the party's official home page even after the DPRK admitted to the kidnappings during the summit with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Sept. 17. The party removed the thesis from the Web site. ("SDP CHIEF DOI APOLOGIZES FOR ABDUCTION INACTION," 10/18/02)

RED ARMY HIJACKERS RAISED CHILDREN AS JAPANESE IN NORTH KOREA

Reuters reported that a group of Japanese leftist radicals who have lived in the DPRK since they hijacked a plane there in 1970 had no contact with more than a dozen Japanese who were kidnapped and taken to the DPRK, the group's legal adviser said Thursday. The Red Army hijackers and the abductees have long been a thorn in relations between Japan and the DPRK. In a major breakthrough, the DPRK allowed the five known surviving kidnap victims to return this week after nearly a quarter of a century. The radicals have also informed their supporters in Japan that they intend to come home soon, in what many DPRK watchers say is a concession to Japanese demands they be tried for the hijacking.

The nine radicals, their Japanese wives and twenty children maintained a tightly knit community in Pyongyang, said Yukio Yamanaka, head of the legal support group that has already overseen the return of two wives and eight children to Japan. Children were drilled at home in Japanese language and customs and have grown up to speak Japanese well, he said. Their situation contrasts starkly with that of the returning abductees, who hid their Japanese identities for years, pretending they were returning ethnic Koreans. Some of their children reportedly never knew their parents were Japanese. The survivors have said they lived for years in the same community without knowing their respective backgrounds. The four surviving hijacking suspects have been told Japan refuses to offer them clemency if they return, Yamanaka said. He did not specify if or when they would return, but said he hopes to bring six more of their children to Japan by early next year. The group of visiting kidnap victims is scheduled to return to North Korea perhaps sometime next week. It is not clear if they will ever return to permanently live in Japan, but the government is making preparations to enable them to do so, if they choose. ("RED ARMY HIJACKERS RAISED CHILDREN AS JAPANESE IN NORTH KOREA," Tokyo, 10/17/02)

TWO ABDUCTEES SEEK JAPAN PASSPORTS

The Associated Press reported that after nearly a quarter century in the DPRK, five Japanese kidnapped by spies returned to their homes Thursday, and at least two of them applied for Japanese passports. It was unclear, however, how their move might affect their plans to return to the DPRK and questions remained over whether they could - or even wanted to - stay in Japan for good. The five have been greeted by cheering crowds since arriving in Tokyo on Tuesday - the country's most emotional homecoming since World War II. Their visit was scheduled to last only 10 days, and they were forced to leave children in the DPRK. However, Yasushi Chimura and his wife, Fukie Hamamoto, applied for Japanese passports Thursday in their hometown of Obama, state official Ryochi Niwamoto said. Niwamoto said the two would receive passports Friday, but he would not speculate on their intentions in requesting the travel documents. Earlier in the day, Chimura hinted that he couldn't turn his back on the DPRK, saying he had already laid down roots: "We have married, raised children, lived happy lives there." (Kenji Hall, "TWO ABDUCTEES SEEK JAPAN PASSPORTS," Kashiwazaki, 10/17/02)

AFTER QUARTER CENTURY, JAPANESE ABDUCTEES RETURN FROM NORTH KOREA

The Associated Press reported that five Japanese nationals kidnapped by North Korea in the 1970s arrived in Tokyo for their first visit to the land of their birth in 24 years. A chartered Boeing 767-300ER carrying the five and government officials landed at Haneda airport at 2:20 pm (0520 GMT) Tuesday some two hours after it left Pyongyang's Sunan airport. Minutes later the five stepped out smiling at their relatives, who were waiting on the tarmac waving Japanese flags and carrying banners which read: "Welcome back." The group burst into tears at the foot of the aircraft steps as they hugged parents and siblings they had not seen for decades. After about five minutes, the five, clutching huge boquets of red roses, were escorted to a terminal building to continue their family reunions away from the eyes of the massed Japanese media.

It was the first time the surviving five, all now in their forties, set foot on Japanese soil since they were kidnapped from coastal towns facing the Korean Peninsula in July 1978. They were abducted to train and give their identities to spies who were to infiltrate South Korea posing as Japanese. The returnees are a 43-year-old woman, Hitomi Soga, and two couples -- Kaoru Hasuike, 45, and his wife, Yukiko Okudo, 46, as well as Yasushi Chimura and Fukie Hamamoto, both 47. The abductees' six children and Soga's husband, reportedly a US citizen who defected to the DPRK while serving in the US military, were not allowed to take part in the visit. (Eric Talmadge, "AFTER QUARTER CENTURY, JAPANESE ABDUCTEES RETURN FROM NORTH KOREA," Tokyo, 10/15/02) and Agence France-Presse ("ABDUCTED JAPANESE RETURN HOME FROM NKOREA AFTER 24 YEARS," 10/15/02)

DIPLOMAT SAYS N.KOREAN ASYLUM SEEKERS LEAVE CHINA FOR SEOUL

Reuters reported that twenty DPRK who had sought asylum in the ROK's consulate in Beijing left the PRC on Friday and flew to Manila on their way to Seoul. "The 20 DPRK asylum-seekers departed this afternoon via a third country to the Republic of Korea," an ROK diplomat in Beijing said. Reporters in the Philippine capital later saw the group, which included 13 women and some teenagers, being taken to a transit lounge at Manila airport. The group was the latest in a steady flow of refugees who have sneaked into the PRC and sought passage to Seoul via diplomatic compounds. They bring to about 140 the number the PRC has allowed to leave. It was not immediately clear how or when they had entered the ROK diplomatic compound. Diplomats say at least 100,000 DPRK citizens -- and perhaps as many as 300,000 -- are seeking a living in north-eastern China having fled hunger and political repression. ("DIPLOMAT SAYS N.KOREAN ASYLUM SEEKERS LEAVE CHINA FOR SEOUL," Beijing, 10/11/02)

CHINA SAYS IN TALKS WITH GERMANY OVER ASYLUM SEEKERS

Reuters reported that the PRC's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday it was negotiating with German diplomats on the fate of three DPRK asylum seekers who entered a German school in Beijing this week. "Yesterday, three unidentified people intruded into the German school in Beijing. The case is still being dealt with now," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told a news conference. The asylum attempt was the third by DPRK citizens in five weeks at the lightly guarded compound housing the school and apartments for German diplomats and one in a string at foreign missions this year. Zhang said cases of DPRK citizens seeking asylum at foreign missions in the PRC would be dealt with according to international and domestic law and in a humanitarian spirit. 

The PRC has so far let some 120 DPRK defectors who entered foreign missions leave for the ROK despite an agreement with the DPRK to send back escapees.  Zhang said security needed to be bolstered at the German school but stopped short of saying whether that responsibility fell to the PRC authorities -- in charge of providing security at diplomatic missions -- or to the school. "As for who is responsible, I think the relevant parties are consulting with each other. The important thing is that efforts should be made to ensure the smooth running of the German school and its classes," she said. ("CHINA SAYS IN TALKS WITH GERMANY OVER ASYLUM SEEKERS," Beijing, 10/09/02) 

MORE NORTH KOREAS RUN TO BEIJING GERMANE SCHOOL

Chosun Ilbo reported that three DPRK refugees broke into a German school operated by the German Embassy in Beijing on Monday afternoon, requesting asylum and passage to ROK. Three refugees are said to have scaled the wall at the school, located in the Chaoyang district, at 3:45pm local time (4:45 in Korea). The German school is the same place that fifteen Northern refugees sought asylum from in early September. The group of fifteen successfully obtained passage to ROK. (Yeo Shi-dong, "MORE NORTH KOREAS RUN TO BEIJING GERMANE SCHOOL," Beijing, 10/08/02)

3D NORTH DEFECTOR GETS US RESIDENCY

Joongang Ilbo reported that another DPRK defector has been given refugee status in US, the third defector from DPRK to obtain US residency rights. Kim Soon-hee, 39, who had been arrested near the border crossing at San Diego, California in April 2001, was approved for resettlement in US by a federal immigration court in San Diego on Monday, US time. She will be given permanent residency in US, one year from the day of the hearing. Kim, who had been released after her detention as an illegal immigrant into the custody of a former English teacher in ROK, obtained a job with the help of the Korean-American community in San Diego and joined a Catholic church there. ("3D NORTH DEFECTOR GETS US RESIDENCY," Seoul, 10/03/02)

About the "wave of defectors" from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

 by Alejandro Cao de Benos de Les y Perez

President of the Korean Friendship Association (KFA)

Special Delegate of the Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries -Government of the DPRK

DPRK Consultant to the House of Asia – Ministry Foreign Affairs, Spain

IT Consultant for Business Schools  - 22 August 2002

Since the creation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the USA, through its intelligence agency and South Korean sponsored organizations, are trying to isolate and destroy the public image of the country by preparing an orchestrated campaign against it. These groups are continuously fabricating false facts by distorting the reality with the aim of creating confusion among the people. Below are some examples that show how far the imperialist media will go to manipulate the minds and influence the public that have no knowledge about the real situation in North Korea.

The Melodrama of Defectors

About the news about the 'defectors' crossing the border between the DPRK and China and escaping en mass: This 'news' is nonsense and only the uninformed readers on the subject would believe such 'news'. It is a pure and cheap propaganda. The  borders are tightly guarded and it is not possible to enter China in the way the news alleges. The 'defectors' admit that they had been in China for several years, and so theirs was not a desperate escape from North as claimed in the news but a well meditated and planned theatrics.

It is strange that the ‘defectors’ never carry a passport or papers that can prove their North Korean citizenship.

The Dr. Norbert Case

Dr. Norbert Vollersten is a German medical doctor. He is one of the main organizers of these "defection" shows.  He entered North Korea using the ‘Cap Anamur’ (NGO) under the pretense of helping the people in need just after the natural disasters hit North Korea several years in row.  His true mission was a sinister one - to get as much information on North Korea as possible for the US CIA and the South Korean government.

Trips to Asia aren’t cheap and an average medical doctor like Vollersten can hardly afford one - let alone several. This man does practice medicine and one wonders who has been paying his bills? He trots the globe - to Seoul, Beijing, Washington and even to Mongolia at will. He says he is setting up a camp in Mongolia for North Korean refugees. Where does he get the money for his world travels? How does he make living?

The logical answer is: the governments of the USA and South Korea.

Yes - it is true that North Korea gave him a medal for his work helping flood victims. Since he came with a charity NGO, North Korea had no reason to doubt his true intentions. His true intentions became known only after he got the medal. 

He claims that he is the ‘first foreigner’ to be awarded with the ‘medal of friendship’ - the 'highest order of medal - which is incorrect. First of all, the ‘medal of friendship’ is the lowest in its category awarded to foreigners, and second, many foreigners had received it before him.  

He is the one who, together with some South Korean and American NGO's,  is paying money some people to put up 'defection' dramas at foreign embassies in Beijing. Is it a coincidence that every time a 'defection' occurs news camera are there waiting?  How do groups of desperate 'escapees' know when and where TV cameras all set for them? 

Who ring up AFP, Reuters or other news agencies and give them 'hot' tips:  ‘Hi, at 17:32, we’ve a group of refugees waiting for you to – spontaneously - rush into the US Embassy’.

Vollersten was the feature speaker at the 3rd International Conference on North Korean Human Rights and Refugees held in Tokyo in February 2002. The Tokyo conference was funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, a foundation funded by the US Congress. One of the featured speakers was James Lilley, a former diplomat and CIA analyst.

Why would a major news agency publish concocted 'news'?

Well - 'hot' news sell and bring in money; the more spectacular the news, the more ad revenues. It is strictly business and the veracity of news comes second.  The conclusion is clear: the defections aren’t real, cannot be probed and they’re not recognized by the government of the DPR of Korea.

The following are just a few examples of how the 'news' is used in the West -  to keep the big lie alive. Note that the interesting point here is to read the news some years after, so one can see the difference about ‘what they said’ and ‘what really happened’....

NORTH KOREA READY TO EXPLAIN HOW JAPANESE KIDNAP VICTIMS DIED

Agence France-Presse reported that the DPRK is ready to reveal how eight Japanese nationals kidnapped by DPRK agents died. "They are saying they will tell us (the causes of their deaths)," the Tokyo Shimbun quoted an unidentified foreign ministry source as saying Sunday. Relatives of the kidnapping victims have strongly urged the Japanese government to demand the DPRK reveal the truth about the fate of the abductees. DPRK leader Kim Jong-Il admitted that DPRK agents kidnapped Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s during the landmark summit with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Pyongyang last week. Speculation that some of the abductees were executed has grown among relatives of the missing and local media after documents provided by the DPRK showed two of the eight had died on the same day.

The DPRK Red Cross in Pyongyang has said it had traced 13 Japanese abductees, although a citizens group has said 60 more Japanese were suspected to have been kidnapped. The Red Cross said eight of them had died and five others were still alive in the DPRK and attributed the causes of death vaguely to "diseases and natural disasters, among other things." Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe has suggested that Japan may demand the DPRK compensate for the abduction. "We want to consider (what action we would take on the abduction), including demanding state compensation in line with international law," Abe told a Sunday television program. The two countries held unofficial meetings in Beijing and Dalian over the weekend to prepare for normalization talks to be resumed sometime next month. ("NORTH KOREA READY TO EXPLAIN HOW JAPANESE KIDNAP VICTIMS DIED," 09/23/02)

36 NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS ARRIVE IN SOUTH KOREA VIA CHINA

The Associated Press reported that three dozen DPRK asylum seekers arrived in the ROK on Thursday. The first group of 11 women, seven men, two infants and a small boy flew into Inchon at dawn from Manila after leaving the PRC on Wednesday. The 21 DPRK defectors had trickled into the ROK consulate in Beijing since late June. Another 15 DPRK asylum seekers who climbed over a wall to take refuge in a German school in Beijing last month arrived in Seoul on a flight from Singapore an hour later. "It's unbelievable," said one man in the group, most of whom smiled broadly as they entered Seoul's main airport in Inchon after an overnight flight from Manila. Asked by reporters why they chose to flee their homeland at great risk, the man said: "We were driven by antipathy to the intolerable contradictions of the system."  The 36 were the latest in a string of successful asylum attempts by North Koreans facing repatriation and what rights groups say could be jail, torture or death for trying to enter the protected grounds of foreign missions if they are sent home. (Y.J. Ahn, "36 NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS ARRIVE IN SOUTH KOREA VIA CHINA," Incheon, 09/11/02) and Reuters (Paul Eckert, "THREE DOZEN NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS ARRIVE IN SOUTH," Seoul, 09/12/02)

NORTH KOREAN ASYLUM SEEKERS LEAVE FOR SEOUL

Reuters reported that fifteen DPRK asylum seekers who had sought refuge in a German school in Beijing left the PRC early on Wednesday and were on their way to the ROK, a German embassy spokesman said. "They already left Beijing or China. It was this morning," he stated. "They are heading for South Korea via a third country." The spokesman refused to say which country they were heading for. There was no immediate word on whether the 21 DPRK defector who had sneaked into Seoul's consulate in Beijing over the past few weeks and also due to leave on Wednesday, had departed. But another diplomatic source said the 21 defectors at the consulate were set to leave on Wednesday morning. He would not say when. Asked if the two groups would leave Beijing at the same time, he said: "Basically, I was informed like that." (Tamora Vidaillet, "NORTH KOREAN ASYLUM SEEKERS LEAVE FOR SEOUL," Beijing, 09/11/02)
 

EXCLUSIVE DETENTION CENTERS FOR NK DEFECTORS EMERGE

Chousn Ilbo reported that it has been learned that in an effort to prevent its citizens from escaping from the land and repatriated defectors from taking flight out of the country again, DPRK has been running detention facilities accommodating such escapees only. According to a defector who sneaked over of the DPRK's border with PRC late in August last year, DPRK converted early this year the "Nongpo Assembly Center," a detention facility for ordinary criminal suspects located in the Songpyong district of Chongjin City, North Hamgyong Province, to which large numbers of DPRK escapees are sent back, into a facility exclusively for such defectors, and gives harsh labor to the inmates. Hundreds of people are detained there and due to hard labor and poor living conditions, many escapees released from the center are as good as the living dead. Surveillance over those released from such detention facilities has also been intensified with monitoring of and livelihood support to them by neighborhood units and corporations reinforced. (Kang Chol-hwan, "EXCLUSIVE DETENTION CENTERS FOR NK DEFECTORS EMERGE," Seoul, 09/05/02)
 

JIANG SAYS CHINA WILL SOLVE NORTH KOREAN DEFECTOR ISSUE FROM 'HUMANITARIAN' PERSPECTIVE

The Korea Herald reported that ROK presidential candidate Lee Hoi-chang said Wednesday in Beijing that PRC President Jiang Zemin told him the PRC will deal with the issue of DPRK defectors on humanitarian grounds. Lee and Jiang held a 35-minute meeting at PRC's National People's Congress in Beijing on Tuesday, during which the two leaders discussed, among other things, peace on the Korean Peninsula. The Grand National Party candidate began a four-day visit to Beijing on Monday for a series of talks with top Chinese government officials and politicians. (Shin Yong-bae, "JIANG SAYS CHINA WILL SOLVE NORTH KOREAN DEFECTOR ISSUE FROM 'HUMANITARIAN' PERSPECTIVE," Seoul, 09/05/02)

CHINA AND GERMANY AGREE ON FATE OF N.KOREAN ASYLUM SEEKERS

Reuters reported that the PRC and Germany have reached agreement on what to do with 15 DPRK asylum seekers who jumped over a wall into a Beijing compound housing a German school, Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said on Thursday. "China and Germany have reached consensus on the proper settlement of the issue and it is being implemented," Kong told a news conference. "The Chinese side has dealt with the issue according to international laws, domestic laws and on humanitarian grounds." The German embassy declined comment on the details of the agreement and there were no immediate signs of movement by the 15 North Koreans who entered the compound on Tuesday. No one of Korean origin appeared to have boarded the only plane leaving Beijing on Thursday for Manila, the usual transit point to the ROK, and Philippine officials said Germany had made no approaches about flying them there. The police presence at the compound housing the school was much lighter on Thursday evening. (Tamora Vidaillet, "CHINA AND GERMANY AGREE ON FATE OF N.KOREAN ASYLUM SEEKERS," Beijing, 08/05/02)
 

NORTH KOREANS BREAK INTO GERMAN EMBASSY SCHOOL IN CHINA

Agence France-Presse reported that fifteen DPRK citizens have broken into a school run by the Germany embassy in Beijing in an apparent attempt to claim asylum, witnesses said. Tuesday's dash for freedom came a day after a dozen others tried to enter another diplomatic compound in the PRC capital. The DPRK asylum seekers climbed over the two-meter (6.6 feet) high wall into the German Embassy School as classes were being held around 3:20 pm (0720 GMT), witnesses said. They were seen sitting on the stairs outside one of the school buildings an hour after the incident as scores of police ringed the school and told journalists to leave. On Monday, 12 DPRK asylum apparently tried to get into the Ecuadorean embassy inside the compound, but were all caught, according to police at the scene. ("NORTH KOREANS BREAK INTO GERMAN EMBASSY SCHOOL IN CHINA," 08/03/02)
 

S. KOREAN GOVERNMENT OPPOSES DEFECTORS REPATRIATION

Chosun Ilbo reported that ROK government official said Tuesday that it would oppose the forced repatriation of seven DPRK defectors who were arrested attempting to get into PRC's Ministry of Foreign Affairs building. The seven delivered letters demanding PRC recognize them as refugees in line with international agreements it has ratified. He said if it ascertains the seven are DPRK defectors the government will call for principled humanitarian treatment. Despite their appeals for recognition as refugees fleeing famine and repression, PRC has insisted they were economic migrants, not political refugees. (Kwon Kyung-bok, "GOVERNMENT OPPOSES DEFECTORS REPATRIATION," Seoul, 08/28/02)

7 DEFECTORS SEIZED AT BEIJING FOREIGN MINISTRY

Joongang Ilbo reported that seven DPRK defectors were arrested Monday while trying to enter the PRC Foreign Ministry building. The group reportedly sought to submit applications for refugee status. It is the first time that the DPRK has officially asked the PRC government for refugee status. The group reportedly planned to distribute written statements and hold a demonstration after entering the ministry. On their refugee applications, they wrote that they had escaped DPRK to win freedom, and that they would be punished under criminal law if they were repatriated to DPRK. The incident was reportedly organized by a group of DPRK defectors in Beijing known as the Young DPRK Defectors League. The group arranged the demonstration to alert international society to the intensified Chinese police crackdown on defectors. PRC has made clear that all cases were treated individually, and stressed that its basic stance remains unchanged that DPRK defectors are economic escapees, thus ineligible under international law for refugee status unless they can prove political persecution in their homeland. (Yoo Kwang-jong, "7 DEFECTORS SEIZED AT BEIJING FOREIGN MINISTRY," Beijing, 08/27/02)
 

TWO NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS ARRIVE IN SOUTH KOREA AFTER TRANSITING IN PHILIPPINES

Reuters reported that two DPRK defectors who sought asylum at the Albanian Embassy in Beijing arrived in the ROK on Thursday after flying via the Philippines, an official said. The men flew to Incheon International Airport west of Seoul aboard an Asiana Airlines flight from Manila, said an airport official who requested anonymity. Government officials took them away for debriefing. The men, who say they are brothers, had lived in the northeastern PRC province of Jilin for the past four years and worked as farmers, according to Kujtim Xhani, Albania's ambassador to Beijing. Philippine officials identified them as Lee Soo Chul, 26, and Lee Soo Hyuk, 22. ("TWO NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS ARRIVE IN SOUTH KOREA AFTER TRANSITING IN PHILIPPINES," Seoul, 08/22/02)  
 

SOUTH KOREA TO REPATRIATE NORTH KOREAN WHO ARRIVED WITH DEFECTORS

The Associated Press reported that the ROK said Wednesday that it would repatriate a DPRK citizen who alleged he had been forced to travel with a group of defectors to the ROK this week. Local media said Ri Kyong Sung, a 33-year-old boat engineer, was found tied up inside the engine room of a 20-ton fishing boat that carried him and 20 DPRK defectors to the ROK on Monday. The ROK announcement that Ri would be repatriated came after the DPRK's Red Cross chief, Jang Jae On, urged his immediate return in a telephone message. "We urge you to immediately and unconditionally return Ri Kyong Sung to where his parents, wife and child are," Jang said. In a statement, the ROK's Red Cross said Ri told authorities that he wanted to return to the DPRK. The ROK planned to send him back Wednesday afternoon through the border village of Panmunjom. ("SOUTH KOREA TO REPATRIATE NORTH KOREAN WHO ARRIVED WITH DEFECTORS," Seoul, 08/22/02)
 

BOAT ENGINEER OF DEFECTORS SEEKS RETURN TO THE NORTH

Joongang Ilbo reported that the ROK will return the engineer of a fishing boat used by a group of DPRK defectors in their escape from the DPRK, if the man seeks repatriation to DPRK. Lee Gyeong-seong, 33, and 20 other DPRK citizens, mostly members of Sun Yong-beom's family, defected to ROK aboard a small fishing boat, arriving Sunday night. Lee was forced to come to ROK by the Suns, the ROK government said Tuesday. "Mr. Lee was on night duty guarding the boat when the Suns and others were preparing for their exodus with the Saturday dawn," an official said. (Oh Young-hwan, Eum Tae-min, "BOAT ENGINEER OF DEFECTORS SEEKS RETURN TO THE NORTH," Incheon, 08/21/02)
 

NORTH KOREAN BOAT PEOPLE ARRIVE IN SOUTH KOREA

Agence France-Presse reported that twenty-one DPRK boat people arrived in the ROK after a dramatic two-day journey for freedom aboard a small fishing boat in the Yellow Sea. It is the biggest group of DPRK boat people to flee the DPRK. The defectors, comprised of three families, included 10 children. "I wanted to see my hometown before I die," 76-year-old group leader Sun Jong-Shik told reporters as he arrived in the western port of Incheon on Monday. "I have prepared for the defection for a long time," he said, adding he was born in the ROK. The defectors aboard a 20-tonne boat with salt and cooking equipment left a port in Sonchon county near the border between the DPRK and the PRC early Saturday, police said. Their boat was spotted sailing into ROK territory off the west coast at 6:30 pm (0930 GMT) Sunday and rescued by a ROK patrol boat. ("NORTH KOREAN BOAT PEOPLE ARRIVE IN SOUTH KOREA," 08/19/02)

ROK LEASES NEW SHELTER FOR DEFECTORS

by Seo Hyun-jin, Korea Herald, 9 July 2002

A training institute in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, will be used as a new transition shelter for North Korean defectors as early as this month, government officials said yesterday. The government currently runs Hanawon, the only shelter for North Korean defectors, in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, where new arrivals stay for two months and receive education about life in the South. "We will lease the training institute in Bundang, south of Seoul, of the National Council for Saemaeul Movement until the expansion work for Hanawon is completed in November next year," the official said.

The expansion work, which is expected to cost 5.7 billion won, began yesterday so Hanawon can accommodate 250 North Korean defectors compared to the current 100. The official said the first batch of 100 North Koreans, composed of women and those who defected as a family, will move into the training institute as soon as safety facilities there are completed, adding Hanawon is currently negotiating the lease with the Saemaul council. Equipped with 570 sleeping accommodations the Saemaeul center was established in 1972 to train government officials, students and leaders of the so-called Saemaeul Movement, reconstruction of the nation in the 1970s.

"The government will extend the rental period or lease the whole building if the recent rush of North Korean defectors continues," the official said. A total of 520 North Korean defectors have sought refuge in the South so far this year. Fewer than 10 North Koreans a year defected to South Korea before 1994, rising to 148 in 1999, to 312 in 2000 and to 583 last year. Currently, 246 North Koreans are staying in Hanawon for eight-week education programs though the optimum level of admission is 100. Only 28 officials are working to educate or supervise them. "It is urgent to provide more facilities and develop diverse educational programs for North Korean defectors while hiring more staff to take care of them," a Unification Ministry official said. The official also stressed the importance of private-level assistance to that end.